Cobh Heritage Centre

Attraction

From 1848 - 1950 over 6 million adults and children emigrated from Ireland - over 2.5 million departed from Cobh, making it the single most important port of emigration. Cobh Heritage Centre presents the Queenstown Story a dramatic exhibition of the origins, history and legacy of Cobh. Retrace the steps of the two and a half million adults and children who emigrated from Ireland via Cobh on coffin ships, early steamers and finally on the great ocean liners. Explore the conditions on board the early emigrant vessels, including the dreaded coffin ship and experience life on board a convict ship leaving Cobh for Australia in 1801. You can also learn of Cobh's special connections with the ill fated Titanic, which sank on her maiden voyage and relive the horror of World War I and the sinking of the Lusitania off Cork Harbour with the loss of 1,198 lives. The Queenstown Story is a member of Heritage Island, while Cobh is a heritage town of Ireland.

Author's Review

A visit to Cobh really does teach you all you would need to know about the Titanic and the perilous journey that it made before meeting a very icy and untimely end. The Cobh Heritage Centre not only touches upon what happened that cold April morning, but also explains how many of the hundreds of people ended up on that liner in the first place. Everybody thinks that if they have watched James Cameron's version of the Titanic, they know all they need to know about the story. What I liked so much about the Cobh Heritage Centre was that they try their best to widen the timeline a bit so you get the bigger picture, which in some cases is as big of a story than the Titanic itself. I promise you without a shadow of a doubt, that a trip to Cobh and it's wonderful museums will make your life a lot richer than it was before, I really cannot wait to go back!